Barrett drops a bomb on Dems; says "sayanora''

It's not easy leaving a roomful of politicians speechless, but State Rep. Catherine Barrett pulled it off Wednesday night, when she told the Hamilton County Democratic Party executive committee she is dropping out of the 9th Ohio Senate District race.

Democratic party leaders gathered in the basement of the Norwood Community Center Wednesday night for the purpose of deciding whether or not to endorse in several primary contests, including the 9th District, where Barrett was taking on State Sen. Eric Kearney, who was appointed to the job in January when Mark Mallory left to become Cincinnati's mayor.

Barrett, who is about to be term-limited out of the Ohio House, was sore at being passed over in favor of Kearney for the appointment, so she launched a campaign to defeat Kearney in the May 2 primary.

This opened up the prospect of a costly and assuredly nasty primary battle that many in the paraty wanted to avoid.

Party leaders decided to split the baby. State Rep. Steve Driehaus and Tyrone Yates played the role of Solomon as the co-chairs of the party's nominating committee. They recommended that the party's executive give both candidates a party endorsement, but before that could be acted on, Barrett got up in front of the group Wednesday night and said she was quitting the race.

"I want a healing process tonight,'' said Barrett, who a standing ovation from the group.

Party leaders applauded; and also breathed a sigh of relief.

Kearney said Barrett's announcement took him as much by surprise as it did the rest of the Democrats in the room. Her decision, Kearney said, may have had something to do with the fact that he has raised at least five times as much campaign money and had polling that showed far ahead.

But Kearney gave Barrett credit.

"It took a lot of gets for her to get up there and do that,'' Kearney said.